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Peter Fonda: Independent filmmaking takes 'all the heart you've got'

By Amy Bounds, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
02/17/2013 10:15:13 PM MST

Updated:
02/18/2013 09:53:58 AM MST

Acting, Peter Fonda asserted, comes down to trying to add a third dimension to the two dimensions captured on film -- and it's up to directors to keep everything calm and recognize the accidents that make for inspired scenes.

"I could direct all my crew and the camera and all the actors to keep calm and then give it everything," the 72-year-old said after receiving the Pinnacle Award at the Boulder International Film Festival's closing ceremony tonight at the Boulder Theater.

In a wide ranging conversation with Ron Bostwick, the festival's special event producer, Fonda talked about making the movie, "Easy Rider," for the "love" generation. He also showed off his "groovy red and black shoes," told stories about fellow actors -- including Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson -- and mimed smoking pot in homage to Colorado's recent legalization of the drug.

Fonda helped usher in a new era of filmmaking when he portrayed an outlaw biker in "Easy Rider" in 1969. The film, about two bikers who complete a drug deal in Los Angeles and then set out on their choppers for New Orleans, broke cinematic rules and captured the dark side of the era.

"This will shake the cage a bit," he said when asked about the thinking behind "Easy Rider."

The film earned Fonda his first of two Oscar nominations. His second nomination came for his turn in 1997's "Ulee's Gold." Fonda played the title character, a reluctant hero and tormented Vietnam vet-turned-beekeeper who becomes embroiled in a crime plot in order to protect members of his family.

Fonda was praised for his understated performance in "Ulee's Gold," a style he's maintained through much of his 80-plus-film-role career. Fonda said he knew when he read the "brilliant" script that it could win him a nomination.

An outspoken environmentalist, Fonda in 2011 co-produced the documentary "The Big Fix," which was highly critical of British Petroleum in the wake of the oil giant's disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bostwick described Fonda as someone who would be "the perfect Boulder resident."

Fonda responded by saying, "I like Boulder, I like Boulder a lot. It's a real green city."

When asked about his bucket list by an audience member, he responded "what bucket list?" He's still acting; he has appeared in three films due out in 2013 and is scheduled to shoot the drama "The Harvest" this spring.

"I'm in the company of really great people," he said. "I'm still learning. I want to hear that's a wrap on the scene, that's a wrap on the movie, thud ... I'm dead."

His advice for upcoming independent filmmakers is to beg, borrow and steal to finance a movie -- and to never give up.

"It takes all the heart you've got," he said.

Peter Fonda signs photographs with his wife Parky as they enter the Boulder Theater on Sunday night. The closing night of the 2013 Boulder International Film Festival featured an interview with Peter Fonda. (Cliff Grassmick/Camera)

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